A ‘Blood Donor’
saved your life

Posted
Friday, April 19, 2019 11:00 pm

DR. JAYSON GALLER

MINISTER'S MOMENT | DR. JAYSON GALLER

“A blood donor saved my life; you can save lives, too,” that is what is on the front of the T-shirt that the Blood Center of East Texas will be giving away on Saturday, April 27, at the 23rd Quarterly Kilgore Community Blooddrive cosponsored by the Kilgore Rotary Club and our congregation. Behind the text is a rendering of a cross, making the T-shirt particularly timely, with the blood drive’s coming about one week after Good Friday and Easter.

We might not normally think of the crucified and resurrected Jesus as a “blood donor”, but we cannot deny the teaching of Holy Scripture that Jesus’s human blood shed on the cross accomplishes the Divine miracle of objectively redeeming us and all people from both our sins and the eternal condemnation that those sins deserve (Romans 3:25; 5:9; Ephesians 1:7; 2:13; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 2:14; 10:19; 13:12, 20; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7; Revelation 1:5; 5:9; 7:14; and 12:11).

As we turn away from our sin and trust God to forgive our sin for Jesus’s sake, we subjectively are saved by Jesus, Who not only freely gave His blood for us on the cross but also now gives His blood to us with wine in the Sacrament of the Altar (Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25). As we so faithfully receive His blood, we have union with Him and all who do so (John 6:54-56; 1 Corinthians 10:16). We in turn are also led to do good works, which can include donating our own blood.

As the T-shirt says, “A blood donor saved my life; you can save lives, too.” If you are eligible to donate blood, please plan to do so at April 27 drive, held between 8:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., at 713 Florey Street in Kilgore. If you cannot donate, please find someone who can and will. For more information and to schedule an appointment, visit www.pilgrimlc.org/blooddrive or call 903-984-4333. Each whole blood donation may save as many as three lives, and, like Jesus, we would like to save as many lives as possible!

The Rev. Dr. Jayson S. Galler is Pastor of Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Kilgore.

You can reach him through the congregation’s website: www.pilgrimlc.org.